An Impression of Beauty
by spinningthroughthevortex
Summary: "You are human! But you can't be – you're beautiful!" The Dimension Cannon lands Rose on Gallifrey. What she finds there helps prepare her for the time to come. Rose / Metacrisis family adventures
1. Prologue

A/N: Disclamer: Not Mine.

PROLOGUE

The second sun was preparing to set in the south, as two boys on the cusp of adolescence chased through the red grass.

"Blast it, Koschei. Borusa saw us. We'll be scrubbing the floors of the TT landing platforms for decades."

The dark haired boy just laughed. "Did you see him though? The look on his face as he exited his office only to enter it again? That was brilliant, Theta! Hooking up the dimensional bubble generator to his doorframe and setting it to encompass his office ..."

Koschei was cut off mid-sentence by a brilliant flash directly in front of him, and almost knocked over by the figure that emerged at high speed. "Sorry!", the figure shouted, then slowed, wandered a distance away and started speaking quietly into a device on her wrist.

"Control? This is Bad Wolf. I'm on a planet. Outdoors, in an open field. The TARDIS is not in sight, but I'm pickin' up traces of Artron energy. There's a city ahead what appears to 'ave been built by an advanced civilization, and the locals are human in appearance. I'm going to investigate – pull me back if I 've not checked in within an hour."

She was speaking Earth English, with an atrocious accent.

The reply from her device was indecipherable. She looked up to see both boys heading towards her.

"Where did you come from"?

"What is a TARDIS and why are you looking for it?"

The questions came simultaneously. The creature – Bad Wolf? – looked surprised that they had heard her.

"I'm, er, lookin' for a dark blue police box, about 7 feet high. Have you seen it nearby?"

Theta frowned. "Police box? What do the law enforcement officials do with the box? And why are you checking for Artron energy?

Meanwhile, Koschei was following a different lead.

"You said we were human in appearance. And you are speaking a human language. You are excreting human pheromones. But that is impossible."

The mysterious creature looked from one boy to the other. "What is so impossible about being human?" she retorted at Koschei.

It was Theta who answered in an awed voice. "You _are_ human! But you can't be – you're beautiful!"

The human snorted. "Your species looks just like mine. Or do you just think all humans are supposed to be ugly?"

Koschei giggled and poked his friend. "She only has five senses. She thinks you like her looks!"

The human alien glared at him.

Theta peered at her. "I guess she probably looks nice." He said offhandedly. "But her timelines are even more intricate than ..." he trailed off. "And her temporal aura is..." He paused again. "Almost like a mixture between a Time Lord and an older TT capsule. You know, from before they started adding all the safeguards to keep them in line and lobotomize them."

Bad Wolf had frozen in place. "You knew the Time Lords?" she asked urgently.

"Of course." Koschei replied haughtily, ignoring her choice of verb tense. "We're studying to be Time Lords ourselves."

"What planet is this?"

"Gallifrey, obviously. How did you get here without even knowing it? You can't have transmatted through our shields, and time travel on Gallifrey itself is impossible. The High Council would never have allowed a Human access to our planet, and no ships can slip through our defences."

Theta, meanwhile, was almost mesmerized. His hands were stretching themselves towards her of their own volition, as if they were attempting to touch her magnificent aura. Koschei shoved him . "Stop it! You're acting like a loomling!"

The human still had a stunned look on her face, and started pacing. "Gallifrey. Before the War." She muttered. "The Canon is honed in on the TARDIS, so she must be here, but I can't warn the Doctor or the entire causal nexus could collapse. But perhaps I could leave a message in the TARDIS..."

Theta piped in to repeat his earlier question. "What is this TARDIS you're looking for? Perhaps we can help." He ignored Koschei's eye roll.

The glorious alien looked bewildered. "I thought all Time Lords had Tardises. You know, your time machines? They can disguise themselves?"

"You are looking for a TT capsule? Why? You'd never even be able to fly one, let alone convince anyone to key one to you" Koschei said irritatedly, even though he wasn't so sure of that. He was starting to dislike the way Theta was becoming more and more enamoured with her.

"Please, could you just... point me in the direction of these... TT capsules?" The alien was obviously distraught but trying to hide it.

Theta took her hand. "We would be honoured to take you to them, my lady. I am Theta Sigma, and this is my friend Koschei." He felt a warm rush at the feel of her hand in his, and tried to soothe her enough through the contact to regain her composure. He then sent a tentative tendril of thought to her mind, but instead of the open access he was expecting, he saw only a warmly lit sitting room with a wolf curled up by the door. As he continued, the wolf licked his hand but refused to let him pass. He retreated, letting go of her hand. Koschei looked appalled at his blatant indiscretion, but he ignored it. This mystery was just getting more exciting.

"Thank you. You can call me Bad Wolf." The human replied, cutting off his introspection. Obviously a pseudonym, but Theta did not press. He understood all too well how dangerous a name could be.

* * *

The trio headed towards the beautiful city, Theta eagerly chattering to the alien. "This is the Academy, where Koschei and I study to become Time Lords. From there we can borrow a hovercar to get to the Capitol. The primary storage bay for TT capsules is located there. "

Koschei had fallen a bit behind, but finally had had enough, and rushed up to confront his friend.

"What are you doing? You can't take a human to the Capitol! We're already in enough trouble. We should be handing her in to the authorities, not aiding and abetting her nefarious plots!"

"Nonsense." Theta argued. "Go back to your room if you don't want to take part, but I'm taking her. And if you alert any authorities I'll tell Ushas how you really damaged her Silurian harp.

Koschei reddened, then fell back again, continuing to follow, and grumbling quietly to himself.

"So, how many more years do you have left at the Academy?" Bad Wolf asked.

"Oh, I should get everything I need in another five or six decades. Assuming I pass stellar engineering this time around."

"Decades?" the human spluttered.

"Certainly. I have already been here 47 years so I'm almost halfway through."

The human 's eyes widened as she took a closer look at his adolescent frame, then shook her head and changed the subject.

"Have you ever heard of a Time Lord called The Doctor?"

"That's an odd title." Theta mused. "No Time Lords as far as I know have ever been called that."

They drew close to the city gates. Theta shed his school robe and placed it over her shoulders, whispering "Disguise". He then touched his thumb to a pad by the door, and rushed everyone in at a run, waving to the guards before they could detect a non-Gallifreyan. He led them in a meandering route through walkways between beautiful glass turrets, avoiding any areas Borusa might possibly occupy, until they reached a simple room with a desk and single bed. "We will need to disguise your human pheromones somehow." He said. "Your timelines could pass for an over-adventurous Gallifreyan, and nobody is likely to look that closely at your temporal aura or anima unless you call attention to yourself..." He opened a sliding door and a jumbled mess of wires, electronics and random odds and ends clattered to the floor. He rifled through it for a bit, then coiled some fuzzy wires over a pink cylinder. "Aha!" he proclaimed. "An olfactory neutralizer. Makes people smell only what they expect to smell."

"You learn that from your Jiggery-Pokery class then?" the human smirked at him.

"Jiggery-Pokery. I like that. I'll have to use that sometime." He wrapped the wire around her neck, and stuffed the cylinder down the front of her shirt. This time, they both seemed to notice the contact as his hand brushed her neck, as they both blushed and looked away.

"Hurry up." Koschei said snarkily. "I have a thermodynamics project to finish."

"Hold on a sec." Bad Wolf sat on the bed and pressed a few buttons on her wrist device. "Control, this is Bad Wolf checking in. There are Tardises nearby and I am on my way to investigate. Everything is fine. I will check in again in another hour."

"Copy, Bad Wolf." A voice from the device crackled back. "This is Tin Dog. Did you say 'Tardises'?"

"I'll explain later. Have to go now. Bad Wolf out."

Koschei was silent as he followed the other two back to the walkway. None of this added up. A human where a human could not be, displaying distinctly advanced characteristics that a human could not possibly have. She had to be a time traveller to have such... complex... timelines, but the only human time travellers were the Time Agents, and their temporal auras were indistinct at best. Not to mention what the vortex manipulators did to their animae. No, this was no Time Agent. Whoever she was, Theta was obviously smitten with her. He would keep his eye on her. Koschei did not like mysteries he could not easily solve.

As the three of them squished into a single-occupancy hovercar, Koschei's hand rested accidentally on the alien's bare forearm. He froze. Not from the faux-pas; more from the sudden silence in his head. Almost as far back as he could remember were the constant drumbeats, surreptitiously incorporating themselves into his psyche. Her touch silenced them. He let out a gasp, and quickly withdrew. The beats returned. He wriggled a bit until their arms were barely touching again, then leaned back and basked in the rare silence, even as the other two occupants exchanged witty banter. Perhaps the mystery creature was not so villainous after all.

* * *

Eventually, Theta put the hovercar down on a giant grey pad, and they exited into the grey corridor, showing various grey cubicles with grey cylinders inside. "What strange alien beast sucked out all the colour?" the human asked. Theta snorted.

"So what exactly are we looking for, Wolfie?" Koschei asked. Bad Wolf quirked an eyebrow at him, then closed her eyes. "What are you doing?" queried Theta. "Sssh. ", she replied. "Concentrating. Listening."

Theta waited, pacing the corridor. Koschei tried to find a way to stand close enough to her to block out his drums while still maintaining propriety. Suddenly the human spun around, almost knocking him over – again. He huffed.

"She's here! This way, come on!" Bad wolf took off running down one of the corridors, past the TT capsules waiting to be bonded, past those in for repair, past most of the obsolete capsules there only for parts, and stopped in front of an old abandoned type-40. Tears streamed down her face.

"Wow, look at this artefact!" Theta exclaimed excitedly. "This one was obsolete centuries ago!"

Bad wolf simply reached her hand out to touch the door. "Oh, you beautiful thing, you. You're so young! And so not blue! But this is before everything, for you. You and I will one day know each other very well."

"Young?" choked Koschei. "Lady, this decrepit old junker has been in the trash heap for centuries!"

"Don't call her that! She can hear you, you know."

At this reprimand, the doors flew open, letting the alien in. Before Theta or Koschei could follow, the doors slammed shut.

"How did she do that without a key?" Theta wondered.

"Now what?" Koschei sighed.

Theta shrugged, and sat down in the corridor to wait.

* * *

Rose approached the console, admiring the white circle motif in the control room. This was her thirty second jump, and the first time she made it to the TARDIS. The overwhelming joy bubbled up as simultaneous laughter and tears, as she heard her friend/sister/self, finally, in her mind again.

"_WolfSister yet to be, who was/will be part of my Heart. You search for he who will be my Thief, but he is not yet who you are searching for."_

"Look," Rose pleaded, "The universes are... will be... in great danger. All of them. Every parallel is the same. The starts are disappearin'. You must tell him, when the time comes. I am trying... I _will _come back.

An affirmative hum reached her mind. "_All will be as it will be_."

Not entirely reassured, Rose geared herself up for more persuasion, when a rattle in the centre of the console surprised her. Pulling open a small cabinet, she found a box with an odd assortment of items. She picked them up one by one. A syringe? _"To slow the inherent cellular mutation from your dimensional jumps. Your change must manifest at the correct time."_ Perplexed, Rose grimaced, but she trusted the TARDIS, and thankful for the field-medic aspect of Torchwood training, discharged the needle in her upper thigh. The next item was a sonic screwdriver. _"Hold on to this. You know the basic settings, and will be taught the rest. You will know when and to whom it should be given." _ Rose slipped it in a pocket. The next item was a mystery. A silver cube, 6 inches wide. _"Give this to your Not-Father. Tell him to keep it on his desk at all times"_ Now that was odd, but Rose shrugged and dumped it in another pocket. The last item was a small device, also foreign to Rose. She picked it up, and yelped as it powered itself on. A beam of light encompassed her head, then scanned her body. Rose felt dizzy for a few seconds until it powered off and fell to the floor. "_An imprint, so that he who runs away can have some closure_" Now that was enigmatic, but Rose memorized it along with the rest. _"When one becomes two, the two are equal. Do not mourn the half you cannot hold. Now go placate those reprobate time-tots outside. They are getting impatient."_ Rose laughed aloud at this, and exited the ship.

* * *

Theta and Koschei jumped as their new human friend exited the capsule. "What were you doing in there for so long?" Koschei asked belligerently.

"She and I had a few matters to discuss", Bad Wolf riposted.

"Wait, you can _talk_ to the capsules?" Theta sounded surprised. "I thought their awareness was removed before being harnessed."

"Well, that one is so ancient perhaps it grew back." Said Koschei sarcastically.

"I can only hear this one. " the girl murmured. "I need to thank you, my friends. I don't think I'll ever be able to see you again, but I won't forget you."

"Nonsense, my Lady. " Theta smiled shyly yet gallantly at her. "I know we shall meet again. I see it here." He pointed above her head, just to the left. Bad Wolf gave him a bemused look, pecked him on the cheek, then grinned at him. "Laters!" She pushed a button on her wrist, and disappeared.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." Koschei deadpanned. "Better get to my Thermodynamics then. Theta simply stared at the space the girl had been for a few seconds, then followed, a small smile on his face.


	2. Discoveries

Many centuries later, in an alternate universe:

The Doctor followed Rose into her tiny flat, but wasn't sure what to do when she flopped down into the only chair. There were no personal touches anywhere – just a kitchen table piled high with reports, textbooks, and various gadgets. There were some take-out containers on the counter but no food in the fridge.

"Sorry." Rose apologized. "I never expected to come back here. It was just a place to crash when I wasn't working."

The Doctor didn't respond. He was busy looking through the detritus on the table. University physics textbooks, a guide on the basics of temporal dynamics from the 53rd century, some hand-drawn circuit diagrams, a Trelaxian molecule splicer, a crudely put together olfactory inhibitor...

Memories flooded his mind.

"I remember making this for you."

Rose squinted at him, frowned, then her eyes widened. "Theta?" She stood up.

The Doctor smiled, then executed a perfect bow. "Theta Sigma of the Prydonian chapter, at your service."

Rose gaped. "It _was _you! How could it be you. I didn't know... I couldn't know. The TARDIS knew. I met you on Gallifrey! You were so young! I kissed your cheek! You blushed! But how... Did you recognize me in Hendriks? Will he..."

The Doctor interrupted her rambling with a kiss to her forehead, then eased them both down into the chair. He placed the olfactory inhibiter over her head; this new body was reacting far too strongly to her, and they really needed to talk properly.

"That was a very, very long time ago. I haven't thought about that in... centuries. But you certainly made an impression on me. I spent my first two incarnations scanning crowds for your temporal aura. By the time we actually met again I was old, jaded, and heartbroken. I had to stash away most of my good memories of Gallifrey just to keep myself sane."

She put her arm around him and squeezed.

"So what were you actually up to in that TT capsule? Was it actually the TARDIS?"

Rose smiled. "She was. We had a chat. She gave me some presents. " Rose continued to describe the encounter, pulling out the sonic screwdriver at the appropriate time to present to him. His eyes grew wider and his feet grew more restless as the story continued. "She called him – you- other you, 'the one who ran away'. She saw all this happening. Her advice is the only reason I didn't run screaming after the Tardis after ... what are you doing?"

The Doctor examined his new Sonic after scanning her. "You mentioned cellular mutations. I was just checking you. These readings are odd though – does Torchwood have any good medical equipment?"

"The best you can get." Rose replied. "But we're not going anywhere until I have showered and slept at least 10 hours. 's been a rough few weeks. " She sniffed. "And your so-called superior Gallifreyan armpits are as stinkin' as mine are right now." Indeed, the walk to Bergen, the zeppelin ride, the overenthusiastic reunion of Rose's family, and the 5 hour Torchwood debrief had taken its toll. The Doctor relented.

* * *

14 hours later found them ensconced in the Torchwood medical wing. Pete had created an ID card for him as a 'permanent consultant', and Rose was well enough known to avoid being questioned. The Doctor had performed various scans on himself as well as her, and was frowning at the readouts.

"What's the prognosis, Doctor?" Rose pasted on a smile, though she was beginning to worry.

"This is impossible!" He replied.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Oooh, 'The Princess Bride', Great movie. Do they have it in this universe?"

"Tests. Results. Now, Doctor."

He sighed. "Your cells are regenerating at an astounding rate. The artron and huon energy you absorbed from the heart of the Tardis keeps feeding them. And your DNA has split into three strands – your mega-dose during Bad Wolf must have kick-started an evolutionary process that took Gallifreyans millions of years to achieve. The TARDIS left some of herself in you, and if things progress as they have been, I expect you'll start exhibiting some new abilities within the next few decades. Oh, and you're going to live a very long time."

"Why do you sound like that is a bad thing?" While this was all news to Rose, it did not surprise her. Nobody else was able to withstand the jumps. The two other Torchwood members who had tried were still in intensive care with tumours throughout their spines. She knew that being able to design and build a dimension cannon was not something Rose Tyler, shop girl and school dropout should have been capable of. As her jumps continued, she noticed a clearer sense of Time. Injuries healed much faster than they should. Reflexes were faster.

The Doctor paused, then said quietly: "Long life is not a blessing, Rose. It just means you lose more friends. Eventually you start distancing yourself just to avoid the pain."

Rose gulped, then asked the question she had been dreading the answer to.

"And what about you, Doctor? Just how Time Lord is this new body of yours? " _Am I going to outlive you? _ remained unsaid, hanging between them_._

"Well," he equivocated, stretching the word out as far as it would go before breaking. "as the only Time Lord in this universe, I think I set the bar."

"Doctor."

"I don't rightly know. At this moment, my body is like that of a Gallifreyan before being granted any regenerations. With a smidgen of Donna mixed in. Smidgen. Actually no, don't let me say that again."

"At this moment? And at other moments?" Rose dove straight to the heart of the matter, as she was wont to do.

"If I were travelling in a Tardis," he started, then removed a lump from his pocket and cradled it contemplatively, "I could eventually absorb enough Artron energy for one, maybe two regenerations. Having been granted them once, my brain and body know what to do with it, unlike most regular Gallifreyans. He looked closely at Rose. "And if we are together," he paused again, looking flummoxed. "well, there may be certain ways, um, activities that would enable us to, er, share some of your excess. I don't know how much that would be, or how much it would affect me, or even if it would work at all, but..."

"Together? Activities?"

Again, trust Rose to filter the important bits out of the ramble. However, this time she took pity on him.

"Look, I'm not leavin' you, yeah? So we'll be as together as you want to be. Ball's in your court. And I have something I need you to see."

Chastened and somewhat nervous, he followed her out of the medical wing, stopping only to run his sonic over the equipment to erase any record of the past hour.

* * *

"What can I do for you, Rose, Doctor? "

Pete sat behind his large oak desk. The Doctor scanned the area, noticing a picture of Jackie Tyler in a truly hideous pink dress, holding a toddler. Next to the picture was...

"Pete, why do you have a Gallifreyan stasis cube on your desk?"

* * *

The office door had been locked, and Pete and Rose watched in amusement as the Doctor emulated a child opening much-anticipated birthday presents. The stasis box, which Torchwood had been unable to open, was hovering in mid-air, emitting a beep before each item was somehow transmatted below it. So far, eight obscure objects had appeared, each one adding to the expression of pure glee on the Doctor's face. As the ninth materialized, a whoop that transcended all the others burst from him. "Rose! Pete! A multi-universal shatterfrier! It would have taken me fifty years to build one of these. This is perfect, we can have our Tardis in under five years! And she'll work in both universes – any universes, if we can get to them. Oh look, you beautiful little one, you. Come into your cradle." He crooned to the lump of coral as he gently placed it into the odd transparent sphere. Rose caught Pete's eyes and they both let out a snort of laughter.

"Can these all be put back in the box?" Pete asked. "Even I won't be able to explain away why you are carting a truckload of alien technology out of Torchwood."

The Doctor sent his manic grin Pete's way, pointed his sonic at the box, and all the items disappeared.

"Well, that's convenient." Rose proclaimed. "How much can fit in there? Can we add things to it?" Waving goodbye to Pete, they made their way to the exit.

"It is as large inside as it needs to be." The Doctor explained. "This model is an older one – it can probably only handle a thousand items or so – and it is currently holding around two hundred. No wonder the Tardis was missing so much equipment – she gave it all to you before I even... borrowed her."

"Stole her."

"Potato, potahto."

"She calls you her Thief."

"Really?" he turned to look at her. "She never speaks to me in words. Maybe my bond with the new girl can be stronger. For one thing, I will never, ever lobotomize you, you beautiful little transdimensional entity, you!". He crooned to his coral inside its shatterfrier – inside the stasis box. Rose just rolled her eyes.


	3. Progeny

Rose quietly opened the door of the new TARDIS, careful not to jostle the sleeping bundle in her arms. The nursery door appeared in front of her, and she sent out a mental thank you. Shopping with her mother was exhausting. After putting Jamie down, she made her way to the Library, where she found her other two family members arguing enthusiastically.

Gallifreya Donna Tyler! You know perfectly well Jane Austin was almost forty years older than good old Charlie..."

Rose grinned. Freya was nine years old with the wisdom of a fifteen year old, an IQ off the human charts, the body of a five year old and the temper of a toddler. She also had somehow inherited all the Doctor's rogue Donna genes, with blazing red hair and a mouth to match. She was the cause of most of the attention their family gathered whenever they went out in public, the rest being taken by the Doctor's antics.

It had taken 6 months for the Doctor to get his act together and propose to Rose, and a further six hours to impregnate her with his alien spawn, as Jackie liked to put it. And as neither Rose nor the Doctor had worried about the miniscule possibility of cross-species natural procreation, Jackie would chide them further on their carelessness. At which point the Doctor would look pointedly at Tony, Jackie would glare, and Rose would drag him out the door to make a hasty exit.

James Adric Tyler appeared 6 years to the day after Freya, causing Jackie, (and Rose when she was stressed out) to dub them 'Alien Devil spawn beasts' when they were being naughty. The Doctor would lecture for hours on the ridiculousness of superstition and meaninglessness of the number 6 in triplicate, plus all the other numbers that could be added at random. Somehow that did not deter his mother-in-law.

"Look at this!" The Doctor held up a book to her. "The file of block-transfer-mathematics to recreate the old library must have been from the future! All the books I had and all the books I will have had! And read this!"

Rose picked up the book, and read the inscription aloud. "Dear Doctor – Thank you for so many wonderful adventures. You have made many worlds better, you amazing woman. I will never forget you. Love, Yaz."

"Woman?" Rose screeched. The Doctor winced. "You regenerate into a woman?" She started laughing.

"Well, it's certainly possible. The Corsair used to change sex every few regenerations. Once she even changed species."

"Should I be worried?" Rose asked teasingly. "I mean, not that I'd ever throw you out of bed, but I really do prefer my husband... er, husbandly."

"So long as you are around, my love, I will regenerate to please you."

"How about we wait a while before testing that out, yeah?" Rose swatted his arm.

The Doctor's poorly-communicated hypothesis had turned out to be correct – Rose had learned how to channel Artron energy into him during intimacy, thanks to their nascent telepathic marriage bond, and he was now up to two regenerations. Rose would then replenish her stores by keeping the TARDIS in the vortex for a few hours. New abilities had indeed manifested – the telepathy occurred as she was being chased by a Zygon through an underground station. She stopped suddenly as her mind was invaded by the Doctor's explanations of multidimensional transuniversal thermodynamics to their precocious daughter. Panicking, she managed to project the lecture at the rampaging Zygon, who proceeded to stare glassy-eyed at her long enough to be tied up. Timelines appeared in the middle of a Vitex party, causing her to trip and fall into the snack table. Having promised Jackie she would attend this one to its bitter end, alien invasion or no, she spent the entire evening staggering around, attempting to avoid walking into the pretty lines, and holding out her hands to touch them. She also spent the next week on the covers of various tabloid magazines as they spun wild tales detailing her obvious drug problem.

She was adapting, slowly. But it was not always easy.

"Mum, have you seen the swimming pool yet? Little One created it yesterday!" Freya pulled her hand excitedly. Rose grimaced – she absolutely refused to call the TARDIS 'Little One', but the Doctor's paternal babbling at the tiny coral had stuck, and when the children came along they picked up on it. The TARDIS had been mature enough to start configuring as a time capsule (and living in) by the time Freya was five, but the damage had been done. Now, four years later, she was just about ready for her first trip.

"Allons-y", Rose proclaimed, mimicking the Doctor's excitable hand gestures.

Halfway through the swimming (and splashing) session, Little One (_no! The TARDIS!_ ,Rose mentally castigated herself) projected that Jamie had awoken. "_I'll get him_", the Doctor's telepathic voice cut in. "_We're in the pool_", Rose returned.

He entered a few minutes later, crooning in Gallifreyan to his son, and placing him in a duck-shaped floatation device in the pool.

"You know, I would hardly believe your people grew kids in vats and raised them by robots. You're the most paternal Dad I have ever met."

The Doctor's face saddened. "I was a failure the first time around. Better with Susan, though she raised me as much as I raised her. But I've experienced too much loss to take anything for granted anymore. I don't want to miss any of these moments."

The atmosphere grew heavier. The truth was, their children were Gallifreyan-Human-TARDIS hybrids. Their lifespan was unknown, and even if they had the ability to receive regeneration energy, the Doctor had no idea how to grant it to them, short of harnessing a black hole and taming it. At least he was now an expert on growing new TARDISes, so had that to offer his offspring. But the thought of outliving them sat heavy in his heart.

Pushing that thought aside, he pasted on his manic grin. "So... I finally managed to jury-rig that dimensional stabilizer I found in the Torchwood archives to the console. That was the last thing necessary for travel – the rest is just icing on the cake. Want to take her for a spin?"

"SPIN", shouted Jamie as he rotated his duck.

"Can we go to Barcelona? I wanna see the dogs with no noses!" piped up Freya.

"Barcelona it is." The Doctor's grin was contagious this time.


	4. The Thal Empire

"Barcelona!" proclaimed the Doctor. "Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire, year 4130, Andromeda galaxy. Just before the revolution." He threw open the doors to a picturesque, vacant beach.

"Where are all the people?" asked Rose.

"Where are all the dogs?" asked Freya.

"Where's Grandma?" asked Jamie.

The Doctor pointed at each of them in turn. "I don't know. Probably where all the people are, which I don't know. Back on Earth. She doesn't like travelling, that one."

"Well, let's go investigate!" Rose grinned. Exciting as Torchwood could be, nothing beat travelling in the TARDIS, and she had missed it profoundly. "Come along!"

The Doctor picked up Jamie, and Rose grabbed her daughter's hand as they retreated from the giant palm tree that had not been there a minute before, and headed off towards the town.

* * *

As the town grew nearer, Rose grew more and more uncomfortable, though she couldn't quite figure out what was causing the discomfort. She noticed the Doctor was also frowning, and Freya had slowed down. Jamie started crying.

"What is this feeling?" she asked

"We are very close to a fixed point in time," the Doctor replied. "Look at the timelines. Freya, can you see the difference?"

"They're... brittle. Thick. It's hard to walk. This is horrible."

Rose had a look at a part of herself she normally tried to ignore in order to function properly. "No, it's more than that. I'm getting a very strong sense of danger."

The Doctor looked at her, then came to a decision. He trusted Rose's instincts. "Freya, take Jamie back to the TARDIS. We'll have a quick peek to see what is happening and come right back. " He put the toddler down and knelt down to face him. "Jamie, you must do what your sister says. You know how to call out to me if you need me. " He gave him a hug. "Now run!"

As the two ran towards the TARDIS as fast as the toddler's little legs could go, Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand. "They'll be alright, yeah? They're smart."

Before the Doctor could reply, a squad of heavily armoured soldiers appeared, led by a larger alien in a red helmet. "You are out of bounds.", the leader barked out in a robotic sounding voice. "Show us your papers so you can be processed."

On closer inspection, the leader was humanoid with various cybernetic implants and additions to his body. One arm was entirely robotic, with a claw at the end, and various holes below, perhaps to shoot bullets or darts. The left eye socket housed a giant scanner.

"Of course," the Doctor smiled, handing him the psychic paper. "Here you go. I'm sure everything is in order."

The cyborg glanced at it, and boomed out, "This is blank. Your papers are invalid. You will be incarcerated."

Rose giggled, and muttered to the Doctor, "Hey, they can't decide whether they're Daleks or the Borg from Star Trek. Think they're gonna assimilate us?"

"Better assimilate than exterminate, I say."

The cyborg interrupted them. "We do not assimilate. You are inferior beings. We do not exterminate. We only subjugate. You will be reprogrammed to serve the Thal empire."

The Doctor looked up. "Thal? Really? Have you heard of the Kaleds?"

"The Kaleds were our enemy. They have been eradicated."

The doctor only hummed speculatively as his hands were cuffed and they were led towards an imposing grey structure.

* * *

The prison cell was unremarkable as far as prisons went. Bars on the window, and concrete walls with metal rings for prisoners to be handcuffed to. "Well, this brings me back..." Rose quipped. "So what do you think of this 'Thal Empire'?"

The Doctor sighed. "Sometimes I almost forget I am in an alternate universe – then something like this comes up." He turned to look at her. "The Thals and the Kaleds were rival groups on the planet Skaro."

"Skaro? Like the cult of Skaro? Daleks?" Rose broke in. She had managed to free her left hand, but the right was proving impossible. The Doctor was not having any such luck.

"Unfortunately. In our universe, the Kaleds won the war, and genetically engineered themselves into Daleks. It looks like the Thals were the victors in this one, turning themselves into cyborgs. Interesting that both sides ended up as evil overlords."

Rose just hummed.

"Can you reach my left pocket?" the Doctor leaned towards her as far as he could. Rose stretched her hand towards him. "A bit further..." she muttered, then suddenly grabbed hold of his trousers. Slowly inching her hand inside without letting go, she finally felt the cylindrical object she was looking for. "Got it!" she proclaimed, holding up his sonic screwdriver.

"Setting 24C ought to do it."

Rose fiddled with it and pointed it at her cuffs. "Nope."

"Try 24B then." Again, she failed.

At that moment, they heard heavy footsteps approaching. Rose slipped the sonic into her pocket, and forced her hand back into the faulty cuff just before one of the soldiers unlocked their cell door and walked in. He detached the handcuffs from the wall and started leading them out.

"Where are you taking us?" Rose asked angrily.

"To be reprogrammed, of course. You will become willing servants of the Thal empire."

Rose did not like the sound of that. Putting her Torchwood training to the test, she bent over, using the guard's hold on her cuffs to throw him over her shoulder and to the floor. With her foot on his chest, she reached down to search for the keys, as the Doctor stood on his arms. "Nice!" He winked at her. The Thal struggled, then pressed two fingers together, and everything went black.

* * *

James Adric Tyler sat in the control room, watching his sister attempt to run some scans from the console. He was the quiet child, preferring to observe rather than act impulsively. He knew he was underestimated, even by his parents, but the parental bond he shared with them kept him constantly aware of their love for him, so he was not terribly bothered by the fact. As he was thinking of various possibilities, the bond to his mother, which usually nestled in a corner of his mind as a vibrant yellow hum, went entirely silent.

Jamie met Freya's worried eyes.

"Someone did something to Mum. We have to go help, now!" she panicked.

"Mum's alive, just unconscious. How's 'bout you try to scan the town. I'll try to contact Dad."

Freya nodded and continued poking buttons at a more rapid pace.

"_Daddy! Where are you? What happened to Mum?_" he sent, screwing his face in concentration. Sending words was a lot trickier than feelings.

He felt his father's reply, though it was slow, as if the Doctor was speaking through a puddle of syrup.

"_Detention Centre. Middle of the town. Scan for sonic dampening fields. Rose is fine but something they did knocked her out and made me very drowsy. They think I am unconscious as well so I'm pretending. Get the TARDIS to connect to the galactic network and research the Thal Empire. Don't leave the TARDIS for anything. Love you."_

The message weakened near the end, but Jamie could still feel the Doctor. He toddled to the opposite side of the console from Freya, and asked Little One to raise the floor for him. She complied with an organic stool, and he stepped up to start the search.

"Dad said to scan for sonic dampening fields. They're in jail in the middle of town."

Freya grimaced. "Little One can't penetrate very much of the town centre. She's running a more extensive scan now but it will take a few minutes. I hate waiting!"

"How do I get the TARDIS to connect to the galactic data network?"

Freya came over to help him set it up, and they sat down together to wait.

* * *

When Rose regained consciousness, she was lying on a hard table with her cuffs connected to the corner. She looked over to find the Doctor on his own table, muttering to himself.

"Doctor?"

He looked up to her in relief. "You were out for an hour. Are you all right?"

" I'm fine." She wiggled her left hand. "And I think I can free my hand again."

"I'm not sure how much good that will do." He replied. "Freya says this part of town is blocked with both sonic and temporal dampening fields. So the sonic won't work, and the TARDIS can't get through. Apparently the galactic data network is full of praise for the beloved Thal empire. There aren't even any little rebellions or seditious documents. Everyone seems very happy to serve."

"That is actually far more disturbing than if they were hated." Rose mused, when a strong telepathic hug was blasted at her.

"_Mum! You're awake! Hold tight, we're coming to rescue you!"_

"_Freya, no! Don't you dare! You need to stay safe in the TARDIS..." _The link broke. "She blocked me! Why'd you teach her so much control? They're trying to rescue us. This is a disaster. How did we not know about all this?"

The Doctor could sense Rose's rising dismay, but before he could respond, the red-helmeted Cyborg entered the room.

"Be still." He bellowed, as he directed a stream of gas from his arm into their faces.

* * *

Rose felt warm, content, and lethargic. She was floating in a warm grey fog, and there was a friendly voice speaking to her.

"Your purpose is to serve the Thal Empire. The Thal Empire is there to help the galaxy, and to do your part for the galaxy, you will obey them in all things."

Rose felt a strong urge to trust this friendly voice, but another part of her was certain something was wrong. There were other voices trying to break through - she concentrated on them.

"_Mum! What's happening? You're all fuzzy in my head!"_

Jamie. Freya. Rose's mind pushed as strongly as it could against the fog, until she saw only the dark of closed eyelids.

"Why is it not working, Prax?

"The female is only partly human, sir. She appears to have telepathic family bonds which are interfering. I can't get an accurate reading of the species of the male specimen, and he is not responding to the mind-control drugs at all. They just knocked him out."

"We must have control over all species. We will take them to Headquarters for extensive testing."

At that moment there was an explosion. The Thals ran out of the room, and twenty seconds later, the sound of the TARDIS materializing filled the room.

* * *

Freya knew she was in deep trouble for blocking her bond with her Mum. But there was no way she was going to sit in the TARDIS doing nothing while her parents were in trouble. She could not land Little One inside the complex while the temporal dampening field was up. Well, no problem; she simply had to figure out how to take it down.

"Generators all appear to be here", Jamie pointed to a spot on the edge of the complex. "Land here, blow it up, then Little One can find the Gallifreyan life signs and land there."

Freya's maniacal grin was a lot like her father's. "I know just the thing!"

* * *

Piloting the TARDIS a few kilometres in space was easy. Little One disguised herself and an extra piece of wall. Freya examined the display.

"There is an air vent right here, which leads right to the generators. There's no way I will fit, but you could get in no problem. You just need to take this through to the other end, press the button, and come back really, really fast."

Jamie's eyes were wide as he accepted the bundle from her. It was labelled 'Nitro-9' and was attached to a device with a large red button on it.

"You can do this. I know you can. Be brave – Mum and Dad need us!"

Jamie felt his lip beginning to quiver, but just nodded and snuck out the TARDIS doors.

Freya tapped her feet as she watched Jamie climb into the air vent hole and disappear. She hated waiting; she wanted to be the one out there facing the danger. "_Jamie, how's it going?_" she sent telepathically.

"_Just about there, sis_." He replied. Suddenly a motion on the screen caught Freya's eye. One of the guards was coming around the corner and heading straight towards the TARDIS. She was in disguise, right? Freya's heart raced. _"Jamie, someone's coming. Stay put for now."_

_"I can't!",_ he sent back. "_I just pressed the button! I need to escape the blast radius!"_

Freya held her breath as the guard passed the vent hole and continued walking. Little legs dangled out the hole, scrabbled a bit, then Jamie dropped to the ground. But he was not stealthy enough – the guard turned back at the noise, shouted "Hey!", and ran towards him.

A few things happened at once. The wall collapsed outwards with a great bang. Debris and smoke clouded the monitor preventing Freya from seeing outside. Jamie's presence in her mind suddenly went dim, and the TARDIS signalled that the dampening field was down. When Freya peeked out the doors, nether her brother nor the guard were in sight.

Freya ran back to the console to ask Little One for all Gallifreyan or part-Gallifreyan life signs. The display showed one near the centre of the complex, and another slowly heading away from her, surrounded by other life forms.

There was no way she could rescue her brother by herself. But she could do something about her parents. Tears streaming down her face, she started the dematerialization.


	5. Rescue

Rose looked up, dazed, as Freya came out the TARDIS doors, looking severely distraught. "They have Jamie!" she wailed, rushing to her mother. Rose just looked angry. "Right, well, let's get out of here, rescue him, and stop these bastards." She freed her left hand, grabbed the sonic screwdriver from her pocket, quickly popped her cuffs, and ran over to free the Doctor. He was just starting to come back to consciousness and was able to stagger back to the TARDIS with a bit of help.

The Doctor quickly moved the TARDIS back to their original spot on the beach, then brought up Freya's life-signs display. Jamie was now inside the complex, and the dampeners were all functional again.

"That was fast.", he muttered. Freya let out a gasp. "He's awake. "

"Jamie? Are you alright? What's happening?" Rose sent.

She received a sense of frustration, then _"Quiet, Mum. They're talking. Important. I'm trying to listen."_

_"Okay, but let me know when you're done, yeah?"_

"He's trying to listen in to their conversation. He seems fine."

"We have to rescue him. Now!" Freya yelled.

"Freya, he wants to get this information to help us. Maybe help the galaxy. He's little, but he's a Tyler like the rest of us, and this is what we do. Let's give him a few minutes, yeah?"

"But it should be me! I'm the one that persuaded him to go out in the first place! It's all my fault! And he's just a baby!"

Rose understood. Her maternal instinct was screaming at her to barge in and rescue her baby. But she knew Jamie could handle far more than the usual human toddler. And this situation would only be made more dangerous by trying to break him out now. These Thals were using mind control on a galactic scale, and her escape had been a narrow one. They needed a plan.

The Doctor was concentrating on something. When he looked up, his face looked very old.

"The Thals have confirmed that Jamie and I are the same species. They want to take him to headquarters for testing. Apparently this is where they run their experiments on various species to perfect their drugs and mind control techniques."

"Well, let's go get him then go blow it up!" shouted Freya. Rose just frowned.

"That's the thing, Freya. " the Doctor responded quietly. "We don't know where it is. There is no mention of it anywhere. Jamie wants us to let them take him so that we can follow his telepathic signal and rescue everybody."

"It's too dangerous!" Rose burst out. "A few minutes delay to get information is one thing, but I can't let them take him away!"

"What about being a Tyler, Rose? He would be helping to save the galaxy from subjugation. He wants to do this, and we can monitor him over the bond at all times."

"But if something happens, we won't be able to help. These guys had those dampening thingies preventing the TARDIS from landing."

"Technically," the Doctor stated, "they only had Sonic and Temporal dampeners. The Sonic one is what prevented my screwdriver from working. It was the Temporal one blocking the TARDIS. But since we are already in the correct time, I can bypass the temporal circuits and we should technically be able to travel anywhere in space that way. Then we would be able to get through, easy peasy!"

"Why do they have Temporal dampeners anyway?" Freya chimed in. "I thought there were no Time Lords in this universe."

"Probably to prevent the Time Agency from interfering. Their mind control subjugates the current population, but future generations would see it for what it was."

"So," Rose decided to take control of the situation. "Jamie goes along, as docile as possible, with the Thals. Freya, keep your link with him wide open, and let us know as soon as there is any new information, or trouble. Doctor, do your bypass. Quickly. I can't let them experiment on our boy. I'll work with the TARDIS on weapons."

"Yes, Ma'am", the Doctor saluted. "But nothing lethal!"

* * *

Jamie had never been away from his parents for this long. The Doctor wouldn't even let Grandma have him alone for more than an hour. Even with their soothing presences in his head, he still felt very alone. But he needed to do this. He had feigned unconsciousness when the big robot guy had zapped him, hoping they would leave him alone after that.

He didn't hear any movement nearby. He cracked an eye partly open. No Thals. He sat up slowly and looked around. His hands were cuffed, and he appeared to be in a giant cage. Suddenly, a loud engine rumbled, and he almost fell over from the acceleration.

A ship, then.

_"Dad?" _he sent._ "I'm in a moving ship."_

_"Are you alright?"_

_"Fine; they left me alone in a cage."_

_"Right. Okay. Keep in contact with your sister – she can work on triangulating your trace while we make a few jumps. I've almost got the TARDIS ready. We'll see you soon, I promise."_

After a long mental chat - and a few arguments - with Freya, the excitement finally caught up with him and he fell into slumber.

* * *

Rose cackled with glee as the TARDIS guided her to her newly formed armoury. _"Nothing lethal_", the Doctor had said. Well, there was still plenty of leeway, and Commander Tyler, codenamed Bad Wolf had seen far too many dystopian parallel universes to not have developed a bit of a bloodthirsty side. And when it came to protecting her family, she would do whatever it took. Sonic blasters – those had a stun setting, didn't they? Rose placed a few in her bag, along with a few stun grenades, smoke bombs, knockout gas, a small but powerful EMP emitter, and finally a box of perception filters and transmit beacons. Far easier to break people out if they could all go unnoticed. Before she could exit, she noticed a light shining on a shelf near the back with a bulbous object with a distinct cone at one end. _"Gift from my sister/mother's equations. Point this at someone, and every second of exposure will erase the last hour of memory. High power erases one year for every second."_

_"Oh you darling girl, that is perfect! Thank you!" _ Now her plan was forming cohesion.

* * *

Jamie awoke to his cage door opening. One of the Thal soldiers entered, grabbed him by the cuffs and pulled him roughly. He did not fight - he knew he needed to get to where the prisoners were being kept, but he did keep an open channel to his family.

_"Freya? I've arrived. I think they're taking me to the other prisoners. Have you found me?"_

Freya was quick to answer. _"We've got you. Tell us as soon as you're in place and we'll come join you. I promise. And next time I'm going to be the one on the adventure while you stay safe!"_

* * *

Rose dropped her sack on the console, and faced her worried daughter and closed-off husband. She knew the Doctor had centuries more experience at rushing into danger without a plan, but this was different. Her son's life was at stake here, and they needed to coordinate properly. She was the one trained for this type of mission.

"Okay, team. Here is what we will do..."

* * *

Jamie was pushed into another cage, almost identical to the previous cage he was in, except for the bowl of water and plate of dry biscuits in one corner, and a frightening-looking bucket in another. This time the handcuffs were taken off before he was once again left alone. He peered out the side of the cage to see more cages, side by side, as far as he could see.

"Hello?" he called out. "Is there anyone else here?"

"What do you think, kid?" a bitter sounding Silurian replied. "They put all these cages here just to contain you?"

"Look, Mister. My family is coming to free me in a minute. They'll free all of us."

"Yeah, right. Nobody knows where this station is located, and your beloved family will be brainwashed into forgetting you even exist before they can get to you. "

"Oh really?" Jamie's face broke out into the largest grin he could fit, as his Mum took off her perception filter in front of his cage, pointed the sonic blaster down at an angle at the cage, and pressed the button.

"I love the squareness gun!" she said with an equal grin. "Sorry you'll have to duck, but I didn't want to risk catching you in the target area." He squirmed out of the hole, and hugged his mother, never wanting to let go. She lifted him up onto a hip, reversed the hole, and started making her way down the row. Each prisoner got a perception filter, a few transmat beacons, and instructions on how they could see justice done. The Silurian, along with a few others, chose to stay and help free the rest. Jamie eventually gave in to the lure of being able to use a sonic blaster, and decided he ought to be helpful as well.

* * *

Freya felt far better once she was able to start her mission. Finally, she was doing something! Perception filter in place, she snuck into the room holding the computer banks, and got to work. Station by station, she first placed a little device as close as she could, uploaded all the data to the TARDIS, then sent a directed electromagnetic pulse to wipe the data. Every time she came across a Thal she discreetly placed a transmat beacon on their clothing, then activated it, using the station's own transmat system to send them to the beacon's other half – placed in a cage by her Mum. She felt a wave of pride and respect to belong to such a family. "_Thanks, Mum_", she sent, for coming up with such a perfect plan, and then "_Thanks, Dad_", for having the technical genius to pull it off.

* * *

The Doctor was performing a similar task in the medical bay, except he also had to memorize the paper notes before he destroyed them. He also had the stasis cube with him, and he methodically added all the biological samples and chemical compounds to it.

When he was finally done, he stealthily made his way back to the cargo bay where he had left the TARDIS. A few of the prisoners had made it there, but he just waved at them and waited for the rest of his family.

When Rose and Jamie entered, Jamie made a beeline to the Doctor. "Dad! We did it! Mum was badass – she stunned the five Thals who came to do bad things to the prisoners, then she wiped their memories and put them in the cages! We freed everyone! "

"Who's been teaching you that language, son? " the Doctor smiled as he picked Jamie up for a hug. "You were perfect. Without you, we would never have found this place. You have saved the galaxy, you know that, right?"

Rose had opened the TARDIS door, and was letting the escapees in one by one, crossing them off her list as they came through the door into a large waiting room that the TARDIS had created just for this purpose. Suddenly, she felt a spike of fear from her daughter. "Doctor!" she called.

"I'm on it. You keep handling the prisoners."

* * *

Freya's task had proceeded uneventfully; the perception filter was very effective. As she exited the area, she noticed an odd sight – there were two Thals struggling with thin air.

Perception filter.

She concentrated. To see through a perception filter, you need to expect to see it. She reared back. A giant, bright blue Tetrap was attempting to subdue both Thals at once. Pulling out her stun blaster, she inched towards the disturbance. Suddenly six more Thals appeared. "Well, what do we have here?" a robotic voice came from behind her. She turned to look, finding herself face-to-face with a red-helmeted cyborg_. Bloody damn shit hell_, she thought to herself. _Perception filters don't work on cyborgs._

_"_Well, what's the problem?" Freya spat belligerently at the cyborg. "You need six of your pathetic soldiers to take on one little girl and one prisoner? Great Thal Empire my left foot. You guys can't even keep a prisoner in a cage!" She then brandished her sonic blaster and started shooting at random. Part of a wall disappeared and strange blue gas started leaking out. _Oh no_. "You're all a bunch of cowards! Go stick your heads in the toilet!" At this point she didn't even know what she was saying – just that she was so scared she had to do _something_ to keep from collapsing in fear.

She started feeling woozy. Was the Tetrap dancing around her? She started swaying until a strong hand grasped her shoulder. She screamed, then passed out.


	6. The Stuff of Legends

The Doctor ran towards his daughter, using her mental terror to guide his steps. As he rounded a corner, he heard her yelling. He increased his pace even more. When he arrived on the scene, he caught sight of six Thals and one... Tetrap? ... jamming themselves into the nearest loo. Freya was swaying dangerously, and one of the Thal cyborg commanders was placing handcuffs on her. She had dropped her EMP generator; it was on the ground between the Doctor and the cyborg. He sprinted forward, grabbed it, aimed it at the cyborg and pressed the button. He emitted a piercing shriek, then fell to the floor. The mind-control gas was starting to affect him; he really missed his respiratory bypass system. Well, he could still hold his breath longer than most species. He tried to grab Freya before she could succumb. Too late, he supposed, as he carried her away from the gas.

* * *

Rose checked her paper. All the prisoners were accounted for, once the Doctor had dragged in that dazed Tetrap. They had used all their transmat beacons – that meant there should be five Thals in each of the cages. She double checked the monitor.

"Okay, we've got 675 Thals in the cages. That leaves the 15 on the bridge, hopefully unaware of what is going on. That's too many in one place to tag one by one. The main air duct controls are behind a few heavily locked doors, and it would take too long to break through. Someone will have to sneak onto the bridge and release the gas there. I can do that. Once they have been transmatted, Freya and Jamie—if you like, you two can go erase the Thal memories. Just point this at each cage for 15 seconds at high power. Doctor, do you think you can find a way to reverse the effects of the mind control?"

"I think so," the Doctor grinned at her. He seemed to do that every time she took control of the situation. " I'll set the TARDIS analysing the samples They have four different gases to target different groups of species. Once inhaled, the molecules latch on to the victim's bones, remaining indefinitely in their system and reinforcing the mind control. I don't know if I can make just one antidote; I may need to make four of them. I just need to find a substance that can bind to those molecules and render them inert..."

"Well, hop to it then, Doctor." Rose ordered, and his grin widened even more. She raised her voice and directed it to the group of milling aliens she had rescued. "Does anyone have experience piloting this sort of station? We need to take it to the Shadow Proclamation."

"Do you mean the 'Empire Enforcement Agency?' That is what the Shadow Proclamation turned into 15 years ago." The Silurian replied grumpily.

"That will do." Rose replied.

The Silurian huffed. "I can pilot. But I hope you know what you're doing, Human."

* * *

"So everyone in the corridor was exposed to a high dose of that mind-control gas, right? There I was, terrified, and I didn't know what to do, so I just yelled at them! I told them to go stick their heads in the toilet! I didn't realize even the Thals couldn't resist that much gas. My head was spinning by that time, but Dad said he found the six Thals and one Tetrap in the loo – fighting over the toilet! Two of them had managed to dunk their heads in already!" Freya was almost hysterical with laughter. Jamie giggled. Rose sat up from where she had been dozing, and looked around.

"I don't understand", Jamie mused. "Why weren't all the prisoners under the mind control? "

The Silurian swivelled the pilot's chair around. "The reason we were prisoners was that our species were not affected as well by it. That's why they were experimenting on us. I am affected but it wears off after a few hours. It gets expensive for them to have to expose an entire civilization to the gas multiple times in a day. Once they perfected the solution on a species, the prisoner would be killed." He didn't sound angry any more, simply sad.

Rose stood up. "Well I don't know about your species, but mine needs to sleep after being up 20 hours. "I'll find someone who has rested a bit to come replace you, yeah?" She patted the Silurian's hand. "Come along, children. Bed time!"

"Muuuum!" Freya whined. "But we're learning how to pilot a space station! I can go to bed any day!"

Rose glared at her. "Now!" , she barked. They followed.

* * *

It took four days to reach the erstwhile Shadow Proclamation. The Doctor strode up to the main desk, whistling.

"We are here to help you serve the Thal Empire." The glassy-eyed receptionist greeted him. "Please present your identity papers."

The Doctor held out the psychic paper for her to see, then quickly sprayed her with two of the six antidotes he had created, since she appeared to be a hybrid.

The receptionist coughed, then looked around frantically. Finally, her eyes cleared. "What is this? Who are you? Why am I here? I was on my way to free my sister..."

Devastation crossed her face. "That Thal bastard killed my sister! And then I ... I loved the Empire. They were the galaxy's salvation. They killed my sister!" She broke down in tears.

Well, at least the antidotes worked.

* * *

"So you are saying the four of you, two of whom are toddlers," Freya glared. She was nine! Small, perhaps, but nowhere near a toddler!

The Shadow Architect continued. "...took down the top secret Thal headquarters base all by yourself? With no casualties?"

"Yup." The Doctor replied, popping the 'p'.

"...And not only erased all their mind control research, but wiped the last fifteen years of from their minds, to ensure they could not remember it?"

"Yup."

"... You rescued all the prisoners, cleared the Shadow Proclamation of the insidious Thal mind control, and are presenting us with their base, complete with all the top-level Thals in cages?"

Rose grinned at her. "I wouldn't be so grateful about that one. 's not like they'd be able to answer any of your questions!"

The Shadow Architect sighed. "You are correct. The task before us is stupendous. These antidotes will free the galaxy, but we still need to find a way to adminster them, let alone incapacitate the rest of the Thals out there. And you gave me 135 freed prisoners to deal with. I will have to draft you and your ship to help with this."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at her. "Fine, just let me say goodbye to my family first." He gestured for the others to follow, and walked towards the potted plant in the corner. The Architect frowned. Had that plant moved? She looked around to find an identical plant in the opposite corner. That was odd. She looked back as she heard a door close. The family had disappeared, and the plant was fading in and out with a strange wheezing sound.

The Architect banged her head against her desk.

* * *

Jackie Tyler looked into the yard as she saw a blue police box materialize on top of the azaleas. She sighed. Couldn't that bloody alien park properly? She huffed, then strode over to bang on the door.

"Get out here, Doctor. You landed in my flower garden, you pillock. And you know full well this universe had red police boxes, not blue ones. I know your lizard thingy is working..."

"it's a chameleon circuit, Jackie, not a lizard thingy." The door opened as the Doctor ambled out, followed by Rose and the two children.

"... so couldn't you land as something less conspicuous? What will the neighbours think when they see this bloody blue box in my flower garden?"

"Modern art?" Freya replied.

"Oh, c'mere you little devils!" Jackie enveloped both grandchildren in a hug. "Your uncle Tony is upstairs doing his homework. Come on up for a cuppa, will you?"

* * *

"So what alien mischief did you get up to?"

"We saved the Andromeda galaxy from evil overlords!"

"I got kidnapped by aliens and helped rescue all the prisoners!"

"We successfully navigated a fixed point in time without incurring the wrath of the Reapers." The Doctor added unhelpfully.

"Actually," Rose interrupted her overeager children. "We went to a planet with a lovely beach. Barcelona."

"Oh, that sounds nice."

* * *

Later, snuggled together in the media room, mostly ignoring the Disney movie and the snoring children, The Doctor muttered to Rose, "You know, I really liked when you took control these last few days. I've been the only one able to make these decisions for so long it was really refreshing. I know Rose Tyler, companion of the Doctor, Rose Tyler, Torchwood Commander, and Rose Tyler, mother of two exhausting Time Tots, but this was the first time I got to see them together."

Rose kissed him on the lips. "I know what you mean. I know The Doctor, the brilliant, ancient Time Lord, and I know this Doctor who is giving his best shot at doing domestic, and the two mesh together brilliantly."

The doctor smiled as he got up and took her hand. "I knew you were beautiful when we first met, all those centuries ago. But you have grown even more stunning."

Rose laughed. "Yeah – beautiful, for a human, right? Though I think I understand that qualifier a bit better now." She extended her new senses towards him, fending off the usual dizziness that accompanied their use. "Your self, aura, anima, whatever – it's just drop dead gorgeous. I'm just glad so few species can see it, or I'd have to beat your admirers off with a stick!"

The doctor laughed as well, then raised an eyebrow at her. "I think the children can continue to absorb The Lion King via hypnopedia without our supervision, don't you?"

Smiling back, she let him lead her out of the room.


End file.
